Immanuel Kant's best-known quotes
The top 3 according to 2 votes from people: Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made. · So when you see a dogmatist come forward with ten proofs, you can be sure he has none. · Sapere aude! Have the courage to use your own understanding!. (Updated Apr 15, 2025.)
From Sapere aude to the starry heavens: Kant's most famous lines from the Critiques, the essay on Enlightenment and his shorter works, each with its source.
Automatically translated (original in Deutsch). See the original
Top 13
-
1
Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made.
Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose.
-
2
So when you see a dogmatist come forward with ten proofs, you can be sure he has none.
Critique of Pure Reason, A 789/B 817.
-
3
Sapere aude! Have the courage to use your own understanding!
What Is Enlightenment? (1784).
-
4
Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-incurred immaturity.
What Is Enlightenment? (1784), first sentence.
-
5
… the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.
Critique of Practical Reason, Conclusion.
-
6
Act so that the maxim of your will could always hold at the same time as a principle of universal legislation.
The categorical imperative, Critique of Practical Reason.
-
7
Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind.
Critique of Pure Reason, A 51/B 75.
-
8
I had to deny knowledge in order to make room for faith.
Critique of Pure Reason, Preface.
-
9
Man is the only creature that has to be educated.
On Education, Introduction.
-
10
Lack of judgement is really what is called stupidity, and there is no remedy for such a failing.
Critique of Pure Reason, A 133/B 172.
-
11
The sublime moves, the beautiful charms.
Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime.
-
12
Deep solitude is sublime, but in a terrifying way.
Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime.
-
13
Creation is never finished.
Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens.
Candidates
They don't make it into the top 13… yet. Vote for them to move them up.
-
14
Metaphysics has as the proper object of its inquiry only three ideas: God, freedom and immortality.
Critique of Pure Reason, B 395.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
Is something missing?
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first!